Watkins Glen / Corning KOA

Best KOA we have ever visited. Large, clean & quiet campground. Sites were well manicured and many had stamped concrete patios with swing benches. Kids loved the pool, waterslide and jumping pillow. Staff was friendly and knowledgeable about the area. Watkins Glen & Treman state park were close and beautiful. We plan on going back! There is a nightly freight train you here go by, didn’t bother us in the RV but it may be loud for tents sites.

Eh this campground is decent. They have SO MANY RULES. The security is weird too, a little overprotective. The cabins and bathrooms were nice. It was definitely overpriced. There’s an extra fee for almost everything. The sand art is $ 4! They do have a cute little outside movie theater where movies play every night. The hippo slide was probably the funnest part. The pool is cloudy and there’s no outside poor. Wasn’t the best experience but it was ok.

LOUD TRAINS run by at night! It’s an RV parking lot. Roads have potholes. Internet wifi is limited to 60megs, so not enough to work remotely. Just enough to quickly check email, definitely not enough to watch TV. Oh, and there is literally no trash cans ANYWHERE! The trash is left in bags at the end of your site all day/​night until pickup at noon. Makes a beautiful morning of garbage infested landscape even more tranquil.

This was our first experience at a KOA. While being priced a little more than we anticipated, the amenities were worth it while camping with a two-​year-​old. We had a basic cabin, which had heat, A/​C, TV with cable, a mini fridge, a full bed, and twin bunk beds. Outside was a charcoal grill, fire pit, picnic table, and porch swing. The cabin was clean, and we loved it!
Other amenities included a store with basic groceries (expensive, but available if necessary), bathrooms, showers, area to wash dishes (soap included), and places to get water.
Many kids activities are planned, such as campfires with s’mores, outdoor movies, and games. There are also bumper boats, a jumping pillow, and a large slide for children. Our two-​year-​old really didn’t partake in any of these activities (as they were either past his 7:30pm bedtime or not age-​appropriate); however, he did love the two available playgrounds.
The KOA staff was incredibly friendly and helpful, and we enjoyed them a lot. We also lucked out with really friendly camping neighbors. Most everyone had kids, which made for lots of understanding if kids got wild or crabby.
We will definitely be coming back to this KOA again when we come back to the Watkins Glen area!

Although this campground appears to have nice grounds that is the only thing it has going for it.
Over the past few years we had frequented this campground and found it nice. We hadn’t been in a few years and thought we would check it out again. I always read reviews before making reservations but didn’t bother here as we had been there a few years back.
We rented 4 cabins and 2 rv sites. We are a group that travels all over with family and children. We have always loved meeting new people at campgrounds and have found most everyone loves our low maintenance, quiet mannered group. Our experience with this KOA was awful!!! I so wish I would have read the reviews on this site as well as Unilocal.The complaints fit ours to a T!!! The thing we found most upsetting was how rude and completely unprofessional the staff was. The manager Mandy and her husband could not have been more lacking in people skills if they had tried. This KOA screwed up everything from our reservations, to the check to the entire experience. They nickel and dime you for everything and tacked in lots of fees to our bill. One example of how awful they were was that there were two hours left for the water slide and they made us pay for 8 hours which they said was policy. We paid the money in their office, stepped outside with all the kids headed down to the slide area where we got to go down twice and they closed it saying there was a leak. They refused to refund our money!!! We created a big
Enough stink that they returned some
Of us the money and offered others only a percentage an we all bought them at the same time. The reservations they screwed up were for cabins
And the screw up was a difference of $ 400 dollars and they could have cared less. Not even an apology!!! Save your money and go somewhere where they will appreciate your business and be friendly!!! The bathrooms were also not clean and loaded with cock roaches!

We arrived August 14 and checked out on August 18. Our site, E106, was probably 100 yards from the highway and the train tracks that make for LOTS of noise all day and night! When the train goes by you can actually feel the ground shake.
The sites are pretty close together so you always have some next to you. On our first two nights people checked in after dark and set up tents with the usual noise of hammering tent stakes, but one camper ran a compressor for 20 minutes trying to fill up an air mattress. No one from the campground came around to quiet the noise.
There are fun things for small children to do, different play areas there were a hit with the two small children that were with us. There is a playground where children can dig for coins which are redeemable for money off at the camp store. The price you pay to camp should include all the rides and $ 7.25 for fire wood was shocking.
You also get a lot of noise from the nearby race track from mid morning on. Bathrooms were ok but could have been better.

I would have given this a 5+ but a few small issues need to be discussed. When we arrived, the site promised was not the site that was given. Secondly, it’s a complex campground and we got lost with a huge rig trying to locate our site. An escort directly to our site would’ve been beneficial. We Asked for wood but we had no way to get it to our camp site (no tow car or kart). It would have been nice if the multiple staff with multiple go carts could have delivered the wood at $ 7.25 a bundle. Ironically, someone does come by to water the plants! The train rolling by twice a day was a little startling.
All in all, we do love it here and we will be back when all the kiddies are back to school. It is very kid friendly. I wish I came here when I was a kid!

Conveniently located between corning, Elmira, Watkins Glen and the wine country. I found the staff to be polite, courteous and helpful. The newly remodeled store has camping necessities. The security was pleasantly appropriate. They enforced the quiet rules was welcomed! Very well run with lots of family activities. They camp does charge for some of the activities but the cost for the quality makes it well worth it. (laser tag, giant water saline anyone? the grounds are very clean with shaded tree areas available. laundry room with $ 2.00 wash available. great value! only Dow. side was 1 train went by at 3am shrine 1 out of the 5 nights we were there.

Stayed here on a mini weekend getaway. Our cabin was clean and I was surprised we had a TV that actually got signal (not that I went camping for TV) and a mini fridge (definitely helpful for cooking leftovers). Didn’t really feel too camp-​like though since my cabin was right behind the rental office and pool. It definitely was competitively priced and had a lot of fun activities to do (more for the kiddies but I didn’t mind relaxing at my site). Staff was nice, the store had everything needed if you forgot anything and it was peaceful and quiet at night, even being near the road. Definitely worth a look if you are looking to camp in the Southern Tier.

This is an upgraded KOA with a variety of sites. After the paved entrance (sharp turns from the road and at the office), the interior roads and sites are reasonably well packed gravel. The park has been upgraded over the years with improvements to electric service, kid-​oriented amenities, and many sites with concrete pads (with corresponding high prices brackets). We arrived late in the afternoon, and were escorted directly to our site, bypassing the office; a nice touch. This is a pet-​friendly park, with a small off-​leash area provided. Cable TV was acceptable but the «free Wi-​Fi» was constrained to the point of being unusable, in addition to being totally unsecured (a definite no-​no these days). Back-​in sites are fine for smaller rigs, but the majority of the pull-​thru spots (most of the newer spaces) are exceptionally large, long and well spaced. Stay away from site F187 in the lower level, as an out-​of-​control landscape irrigation system turns it into a mud puddle each morning. And beware the freight train tracks 100 yards away…

I have been camping in KOAs for a long time (27+ years), and KOAs are always high on my list for selecting campgrounds based on a few criteria:
1. They are always clean, especially the bathrooms
2. The staff is friendly and well trained
3. They are family friendly with plenty of activities included in the stay
4. They are rarely just RV parking lots
Watkins Glen/​Corning KOA was by far the worst KOA I have ever stayed in and made me question my Value Kard Membership.
My family and I decided to make reservations with high expectations for quality and value. We had five adults going and 4 kids from age 7 — 18, all staying on two side-​by-​side RV sites. We stayed for 5 days over Independence Day and the following weekend.
— I was issued a vehicle tag and asked by the staff to have it displayed either on my rearview mirror or dashboard. When returning to the campground one day, I was stopped by the owner Paul Friesen who asked to see the tag (it was on my dash) and told me to put it on my rearview. When I informed him the staff said it was OK on the dash, he told me, «well I’m the owner and it makes it easier on the rearview» before turning his back to me and saying «so we’re ok then.» When I said everything was not ok and told him I was not happy with the standards at the KOA, he told me, «we’ll figure it out later.»
This is unacceptable customer service for an owner. He did not care about my concerns and merely wanted to «check my papers.» This incident was a prime example of the tight control he keeps on visitors. My family felt as if we were in a gulag with the amount of rules and restrictions.
— Plastic wrist bands are issued when you arrive, and you are expected to wear them at all times. This combined with the vehicle tags tells me there is a problem with unauthorized people at the campground. The entrance way could just as easily have a drop arm gate with electronic keys and a deposit.
— The camp store rents golf karts and the staff use them as their primary means for patrolling. While the second part is not uncommon in campgrounds, the staff would often drive by every 30 minutes which seemed excessive until we realized they were counting guests. This was especially annoying at night when we had fires as a family on one site. Apparently the campground has a severe problem with unwanted guests, and military style presence patrols, wrist bands, and vehicle tags are the solution.
The rental golf carts ensured a constant stream of traffic with people drinking beer, texting, and eating while driving them, often faster than the speed limit of 5 mph. With the amount of kids and bikes in the campground this was not only annoying, but also dangerous.
— KOAs are traditionally family friendly with a lot of activities included. After all, you are paying a considerable amount to stay. Watkins Glen KOA nickel and dimes for everything. To ride the hippo slide for 2 hours cost $ 6 per person. Movies at the outdoor theater cost $ 2. Every additional adult (after 2) on a site was $ 9 per night, and kids were $ 5 each. Lost wrist bands, even for kids, was a $ 4 charge. Every guest cost $ 1, even if they were stopping by for 30 minutes as one of my friends did (while I understand this one as a means of controlling excessive guests, with all else included, it seemed ridiculous). I was amazed that the indoor pool and playground were included, and that the bathrooms weren’t coin operated.
— The bathrooms and showers in the new sections were not clean and often covered in bugs and filth. This was a disappointment for KOAs who typically have immaculate facilities. This was likely due to laziness as the bathrooms by office were spotless.
— The «premium» sites in the newer section are very close to each other with no trees for shade and are laid out in a cookie cutter form similar to a trailer park. The fire pits are only a couple feet from the road, so any evening fire is frequently disrupted by the constant stream of go karts/​cars driving by.
— While I understand, respect, and obey quiet hours, requiring all campfires to be doused by midnight is just one more ridiculously controlling rule.
— The animal policy is restrictive of Pit bulls, Rottweilers, and Dobermans, or any mix thereof. While I understand breed restrictions, these seemed arbitrary and did not include other breeds like Chows or Shar Peis which are often aggressive to people and other dogs when not trained. I wouldn’t complain about this except the owner had a Shar Pei, making their restrictions ridiculously arbitrary.
Watkins Glen KOA was a letdown. I will not return here, and I recommend people reevaluate staying here. My review will likely have little impact since the NASCAR track and tourist atmosphere will ensure a constant flow of business, but hopefully KOA will reevaluate this franchise.

Cabins were great. Everyone working there was friendly. The location also can’t be beat. The prices are also great for the area.